January 25, 2018 – HALT Emotional Eating

Facilitated by Dr. Michelle Coker, Clinical Psychologist

One of the triggers for eating is our emotions. We use food to soothe ourselves in many stressful situations, but it can be controlled with some awareness. Dr. Coker talked about a simple way to clarify why we are eating called HALT:

H – Hungry: Do I need something physically or emotionally? Find what will fill you.

T – Tired: When was the last time I took a break? Breathe and slow down.

When you find yourself eating when you are not hungry, you need to stop and ask yourself if you are really experiencing one of the above feelings. If you continue to eat during those times, you will find yourself on an emotional eating merry-go-round:

The problem with soothing ourselves with food is that that good feeling only lasts a moment, and then is replaced with guilt causing more stress and continuing the cycle. Some common reasons for emotional eating are:

The feel good fix

Stress and effort to re-balance

Prolong pleasure

Accessibility

Media diet

Sheer boredom

Habit

Distraction

Ignoring internal cues

Impulsive

In order to change our behavior we have to look at the steps involved in changing habits:

Pre-contemplation – think about what you want to change and why

Contemplation – figure out what you want to do instead

Preparation – get yourself mentally ready and geared up to make the change; talk to someone about it, get support for making the change

Action – make the change

Maintenance – continue to work on keeping the change by rewarding yourself with non-food rewards.

In order to make the change, learn to “Be” more aware of what is going on with you:

SIT with your feelings. When you want to go eat, first do the following: